


Glimpses

by ExLibrisCraux



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Hunters & Hunting, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sex, Not That Violent Really, Other, Tattoos, Unfortunate Fearboner, Worship, man flu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:49:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23470447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExLibrisCraux/pseuds/ExLibrisCraux
Summary: Snippets and snapshots, a variety of ships, not-ships, circumstances, moments. Drabbles are fun!Note: Cumulative tags are updated when I add a chapter, but don't apply to every drabble. For clarity, I'm adding the relevant tags into the chapter summary for each one - this should let everybody read the ones they would like to, and skip the ones they'd prefer not to read.
Relationships: Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam & Artemis, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Azu, Sasha Racket & Oscar Wilde, Zolf Smith & Oscar Wilde
Comments: 60
Kudos: 68





	1. It's Not Like That

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaughteroftheCosmos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughteroftheCosmos/gifts), [Flammenkobold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flammenkobold/gifts), [Miri1984](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miri1984/gifts), [dunkelgrau](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dunkelgrau/gifts), [Louffox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louffox/gifts), [yakyuu_yarou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yakyuu_yarou/gifts), [KDHeart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/gifts), [HowShouldIKnowboutLife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowShouldIKnowboutLife/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hamid's moping, Azu knows when someone needs a hug. That's a good recipe.
> 
> (Hamid, Azu, gen)

Sometimes, Hamid thinks, a hug would be nice.

He sits in the doorway and watches endless rain batter the saturated ground.

_ It’s like that _ , he silently tells it.  _ You can only take so much until you’re full and then there’s nowhere else for it to go but it keeps coming and coming and- _

There is a hand on his shoulder. He looks up (and up), and Azu smiles down.

“You look,” she says, “like you need a hug.”

Azu is warm. Hamid is warmer. Their ferocious hug is warmer still.

Maybe, Hamid thinks; maybe it’s not like that after all.


	2. Invited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all lessons apply to everyone.
> 
> (Grizzop, Artemis, gen)

The stag was magnificent.

Grizzop had sighted it over a dozen times; it evaded his perfectly-aimed arrows like morning fog, and just as silvery-grey.

So he relentlessly chased. The hunt burned in Grizzop’s breast and he could not - _would not_ \- forsake it.

He crashed into the clearing, then skidded to his knees, frozen in abrupt terror. Actaeon’s fate spinning through his mind, Grizzop squeezed his eyes shut. Just a glimpse was enough _beautiful, oh goddess so beautiful-_

Her fingertips were cool on Grizzop’s crimson ears, under his jaw.

“No, best beloved,” Artemis murmured. “You’ve nothing to fear. You were invited.”


	3. Oops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which biology is extremely unfortunate.
> 
> (Sasha, Wilde, teen+)

Quiet. Dark. Late. Wilde held his breath, opened the door-

-nearly screamed. Too fast to react, his back was slammed against the doorjamb. A wiry body pinned him, one bony hand over his mouth, a viciously sharp blade under his chin.

“-Wilde?”

He nodded, winced as the dagger bit. Winced again at his own involuntary reaction. Sasha let go, stayed close to hiss: “Could’ve  _ killed _ you!” She stopped, shifted suspiciously.

“Is that-”

Wilde sighed, nodded again.

“Gods’  _ sakes _ , Wilde.” Her dagger vanished; Sasha slunk away muttering, leaving Wilde vehemently cursing the inevitabilities of adrenaline, another body, and a pounding pulse.


	4. Beloved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lad is worthy.
> 
> (Grizzop, Artemis, gen)

Grizzop draws back the string:  _ tighter, tighter _ , and tries to remember the instructions.  _ Arm straight, arrow parallel; head down, sight over your thumb. Breathe in. Slowly out...  _ **_Let go_ ** .

Nerves ping and rocket through his gut. Grizzop swallows.

“Lady let me be true,” he mutters, anxious.  _ Yearning _ . “Let me be  _ good _ let me be  _ worthy, Lady- _ ”

A cool hand on his shoulder, a calm voice in his ear; startled, he lets the arrow fly. “You could never do otherwise, best and brightest.”

His arrow is true. His quarry drops. Grizzop closes his eyes and whispers his prayer:  _ love you, Lady _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Miri (who gave me a phrase that lurks in this text) and .doc (who managed, somehow, to illustrate this thing before I even had it written I s2g you're prescient and I love it.)
> 
> In case anybody is interested, the illustration in question can be found here: https://twitter.com/erebusodora/status/1254190423582662656/photo/1   
> (I am lazy and html is too much for me before my coffee, sry)


	5. Be Longing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes missing out is less fear and more reality.
> 
> (Wilde, angst)

Sasha’s laugh is infectious, on its rare occasions: rough, unquestionably genuine. Of course it sparks a cascade - Grizzop’s sharper, higher almost-cackle, Azu’s warm rumble like a welcoming hearth-fire.

Wilde turns his head, glances over where they sit sharing some joke to which he is not privy. His pen pauses poised over paper; he lets his gaze linger unnoticed. For a moment, he wonders -  _ what if...? _

No. There is no place for him there, among friends. He is many things: employer; annoyance; burden, increasingly. Not a friend.

Of all the places Oscar Wilde doesn’t belong, inside that circle is the chiefest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your fault, Miri.


	6. Idiot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You'd think an Englishman would be used to the damp. Never rained like this in Blighty, though.
> 
> (Oscar, Zolf, Gen)

Oscar shivered, tried not to cough.

Coughing  _ hurt _ .

This one clawed its way out of him, stole his breath; shredded his lungs, made his ribs spasm. Oscar barely felt the floor when he hit.

Dimly: a hand on his forehead; gone. Two under his arms, lifting. Shifting.  _ Carrying _ , and Oscar clung, didn’t care who or why or where.

Warm blanket overtop, soft bed below, and-

_ Zolf _ .

Zolf moved to leave; Oscar whimpered, raggedly whispered, “Stay? -dowanna die like this.”

Zolf sighed. Oscar  _ heard _ him roll his eyes. “‘s’just a fever, idiot. Go to sleep.”

But he stayed, and Oscar slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dunno if this counts as whump, but it's at least softe. <3


	7. Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intimacy is a spectrum.
> 
> (Zolf, Wilde, tattoos, fluff)

It wasn’t the tattoo gun, but it was equally mesmerising.

The nib dragged over Zolf’s skin, pulling his focus to it. Entranced, he recognised the movements; they aligned with familiar lazy scrawl.

_to live_

Zolf felt the ink as it dried on his skin. The pen was not permanent, but its mark would remain, he knew, long after the ink washed away.

_is the rarest thing_

Zolf was melting and it was divine. The pen glided on, deliciously smooth and sharp.

_in the world_

There were many kinds of intimacy. This was theirs.

Oscar kissed the last word, perfect punctuation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Flammen, who asked so nicely.


	8. Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Praise is a dubious gift.
> 
> (Sasha, Barrett, hurt/no comfort, implied abuse)

“Good girl,” Barrett purred, and Sasha winced. Dread and hope were strange bedfellows, but their queasy marriage stained every task.

She was  _ so good, _ he said. She should be  _ proud _ of every wallet stolen, every lock rendered useless.  _ I’m pleased _ , he said each time her knife came away bloody; the twist of her relieved pleasure made her sick.

The other side of it - when what he said was  _ I’m disappointed _ \- was a vicious smear of red through her awareness.

One day, Sasha promised herself, she’d find people who meant she  _ could  _ be proud without dreading what her failures would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, Flammen wanted praise kink and Saika wanted to cry so I did them a favor and smashed it all together.


	9. Moments Like These

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things that make the struggle worthwhile don't have to be momentous or huge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oscar Wilde, Sasha Racket (fluff, gen)

Sasha was humming and Wilde was astonished. Rough, unmusical,  _ heartfelt _ , it arrowed into him, warm in his throat. Wilde peered over her shoulder and was further astonished by what she was humming  _ to _ .

Sasha trailed scarred fingers over the round bellies and curled backs of three tiny, fluffy kittens in her lap. Wilde watched, unaccountably, abruptly fond. The world was fraught, but Sasha somehow found moments of peace in it regardless. Wilde was humbled to be allowed to share this one.

After a moment, he quietly wrapped his smooth voice around hers. Together they sang something innocent into gentle sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For KD, who needed fluff. There are two sorts here, and I hope they each bring you joy. <3


	10. Aftercare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes fun means checking again in later.
> 
> (Wilde, unnamed other, mature)

Prestidigitation only goes so far, so Wilde indulges in a bath and contemplates an afternoon well spent (in every sense).

There's something indescribably satisfying about a semi-anonymous fuck with someone who enjoys it just as much (and they'd been immensely enjoyable). Responsive, enthusiastic _, fun._ Uncomplicated.

He'd nearly kissed them. Habit, but they'd asked him not to; asked for it rough, dominating, aggressively cold. _Gods_ it had been good.

Wilde leans back, replays the encounter, hopes the champagne and accompanying note (- _I normally stay but you_ **_did_** _ask me not to. Thank you for a lovely afternoon-_ ) adequately convey his appreciation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HowShouldIKnowboutLife gifted me a marvelous thing, and I wondered what came after. Turns out, this is what came after. :)
> 
> (If you decide to go looking, please know that the gift is *very* explicit and probably not to everybody's taste.)  
> (But we all like different stuff and that's cool!)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Good [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24374176) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)
  * [Moments Like These [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24524341) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)
  * [Oops [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24723544) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)




End file.
